ARTICLES ABOUT YEARS IN STATE PRISON BY DATE - PAGE 4

A 51-year-old Allentown man was sentenced last week to spend up to four years in state prison for a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl in Bethlehem. Lino A. Vasquez Jr. admitted last month to the statutory sexual assault of the girl in a van he'd pulled to the side of Riverside Drive last July. In addition to the two- to four-year prison sentence, Northampton County Judge Leonard Zito ordered Vasquez to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three years' probation.

for 5 West Ward burglaries A former Easton man who burglarized five West Ward businesses will serve up to three years in state prison. Daniel L. Bulger, who turns 47 today, pleaded guilty to five felony counts of burglary for break-ins on Northampton and Walnut streets in the summer and fall of 2008. "That's a lot of burglaries," Northampton County President Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden said Thursday. "You were a busy boy." Bulger must serve 18 months before he will be eligible for parole under McFadden's sentence.

A New York man will spend up to 40 years in prison for shooting his friend twice in the head in October 2008. Donald A. Sanchez, 31, of Brooklyn was sentenced Wednesday to 20 to 40 years in state prison -- the maximum sentence -- by Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony. A jury last month found Sanchez guilty of attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of simple assault. Sanchez shot Hilarion Gonzalez III of Allentown on Oct. 18, 2008, on Greenleaf Street in Allentown.

An Allentown woman will serve three to seven years in state prison for a drunken driving crash that killed her boyfriend and severely injured another friend in Salisbury Township in November. Janelle Hoppe, 23, had pleaded guilty to homicide by motor vehicle while driving under the influence and two related charges and received the mandatory minimum when she was sentenced Monday by Judge William Platt. Hoppe was driving her boyfriend, 23-year-old Christopher Barnard, and Maurice James III after the trio spent the evening celebrating Hoppe's new job. She lost control of the car on the 1400 block of Susquehanna Street and crashed into a tree and utility pole.

A Bethlehem man who admitted burglarizing six garages last year in the eastern part of the city was sentenced Friday to nine months to three years in state prison. Victor M. Figueras-Rivera, 36, pleaded guilty in August to charges of burglary and theft for stealing such things as tools, a bicycle and a battery charger from properties on Luzerne, Snyder, Kemmerer and Lincoln streets. Figueras-Rivera was arrested a year ago after police saw him riding the stolen bike. Police said Figueras-Rivera admitted to the burglary and drove them around pointing out others he had done.

A purse-snatching gone wrong in Bethlehem will cost two men several years behind bars. Anthony M. Downing, 28, of Upper Nazareth Township got four to eight years in state prison Friday for grabbing a 64-year-old woman's purse in a grocery store parking lot, knocking her to the ground and causing injuries that included a separated shoulder and a broken arm and finger. Joshua L. Griffis, 28, of Bethlehem received a three- to six-year sentence, plus three years of probation, for acting as the driver in the April 15 robbery of Barbara Uhler at Valley Farm Market on Stefko Boulevard.

A 21-year-old man could serve up to six years in state prison for his role in an Allentown robbery that left the victim seriously wounded. Hector Paniagua, who has spent eight months in jail since his arrest in January on robbery charges, was sentenced Tuesday to time served to six years in state prison by Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony. Paniagua is eligible for state parole, but state prisoners charged with violent crimes usually serve 85 percent of their sentences, according to court officials.

A Palmer Township father, convicted for his part in what the judge described as a "very major marijuana-dealing operation," was sentenced Thursday to five years in state prison. Though Steve Lambert was surrounded by family members who described him as a wonderful dad who has overcome a difficult upbringing in foster care, Northampton County Judge Edward G. Smith had little leeway in the sentencing. State law requires a mandatory sentence of five years because police seized guns in close proximity to drugs when they searched his home on N. Greenwood Avenue last year.

The brand new clothes, still with their tags on, remained untouched in Stacey Schmidt's bedroom. The promising 25-year-old, who bought the clothes for a friend's upcoming destination wedding in Mexico, didn't come home one night and never would wear those clothes or see her friend get married. A police officer, holding Schmidt's driver's license, knocked on the home's front door before 10 a.m. April 20, 2008, to tell her parents why. Schmidt had been killed in an early-morning hit-and-run crash and the person who had struck her was still loose.